Stop Spotlight indexing NAS Shares

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Level 4

2,582 points

Stop Spotlight indexing NAS Shares

I've got >20TB of files on my NAS and every time I use it Spotlight starts trying to indexes it wasting masses of CPU, spinning the fans and slowing everything else down - including the stuff I'm trying to do over the network on the NAS. I don't want the NAS indexed. I've tried adding the NAS shares to the "Privacy" panel of Spotlight settings, but this doesn't stop it indexing. Even if I don't mount the shares, it's trying to index something on the NAS.

Thanks in advance for any help.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.4

Posted on Aug 7, 2022 3:15 PM

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Answer 1

Sparks0829

Community Specialist

Aug 8, 2022 11:01 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Hello Zurarczurx,

We'd like to learn more to see how we can help. Are you using this NAS as your Time Machine backup disk? If so, the behavior you're seeing with Spotlight indexing is expected.

If you exclude a Time Machine backup disk, you continue to receive messages that Spotlight is indexing it. This indexing is necessary for Time Machine to function properly and can’t be disabled.

Have a look at the 'Privacy options' section here to learn more: Change Spotlight preferences on Mac

Thanks!

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Answer 2

ryane77

Community Specialist

Aug 8, 2022 11:19 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Zurarczurx,

Got it. Are you seeing a specific alert about the indexing process, or a progress bar? Does the process ever seem to complete?

To narrow things down a bit, you might try opening Activity Monitor and checking the %CPU column since you mentioned the fans run and performance is affected. This would help work out which specific process might be causing the additional activity and how best to proceed: View CPU activity in Activity Monitor on Mac

"In the Activity Monitor app on your Mac, do any of the following:

To view processor activity over time, click CPU (or use the Touch Bar). The following percentages appear in the bottom of the Activity Monitor window:
- System: The percentage of CPU capability that’s being used by processes that belong to macOS.
- User: The percentage of CPU capability that’s being used by apps you opened, or by the processes opened by those apps.
- Idle: The percentage of CPU capability that’s not being used.
To view current processor activity, choose Window > CPU Usage.
To view recent processor activity, choose Window > CPU History.
To display more columns, choose View > Columns, then choose the columns you want to show."

Let us know what you find! Take care.

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Answer 3

Zurarczurx Author

Level 4

2,582 points

Aug 8, 2022 11:15 AM in response to Sparks0829

No, it's not a Time Machine backup disk.

I understand how to add folders to the privacy pane. The problem is that I can't just add the NAS - I have to add individual shares. Then, when the NAS shuts down or shares are unmounted then the shares disappear from the privacy pane. So the next time I mount a share or turn the NAS on I have to re-add the shares to Spotlight's privacy page. However, that's not the real problem - the problem is that even when shares are in Spotlight's privacy pane it still accesses them to do something. It's also using stacks of CPU - up to about 175%, which is killing my workflow.

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Answer 4

Zurarczurx Author

Level 4

2,582 points

Aug 8, 2022 11:27 AM in response to ryane77

It's not a process bar thing. I'm doing some video processing of files on the NAS. I noticed that the amount of local network traffic was higher than I expected, checked around and found Spotlight (mds) to be the culprit.

For CPU usage - see the answer above; mds running up to 175% CPU at times but probably about half that on average. There are many mds processes running. I've tried killing them but many come back. I know it's the NAS they are accessing because when I block spotlight's access to the NAS's IP address using Little Snitch the mds processes stop, then start again when I give them access back.

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Answer 5

1ssmith

Community Specialist

Aug 8, 2022 11:57 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Zurarczurx,

To help investigate this further, please reach out to Apple directly using this link: Apple Support

Best!

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Stop Spotlight indexing NAS Shares

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